KARACHI, Aug 12: The rupee on Thursday gained 10 paisa against the US dollar to close at 58.79 from 58.89 on Wednesday as some leading importers delayed forward buyings hoping that the rupee would rise further.

Senior bankers said what else strengthened the rupee was that the market received an inflow of $15 million through Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. The company gets foreign exchange from other telecommunication companies of the world on account of international call charges sharing. The company had received less than $10 million on Wednesday also.

Bankers said that a leading cement company delayed its forward buying of more than $25 million anticipating that the dollar would slip further in next few days. It could not be learnt immediately if the central bank also sold dollars in the market to prop up the rupee but it has been injecting big amounts of dollars for the past several months.

The rupee has lost 67 paisa or 1.15 per cent value against the dollar so far during this fiscal year coming down from 58.12 to 58.79 a dollar. Sources close to SBP say the central bank may continue to inject dollars into the market to lift the rupee up to 58.50-58.60. But bankers say even if the SBP manages to do this through interventions it is not a sustainable level for the rupee.

"Rising oil prices and widening trade deficit would force the rupee down after some time," says a dealer at a foreign bank. "When the dollar falls to say Rs58.50-Rs58.60 importers would make a beeline for forward buying and dollar would rise again," said a dealer at a local bank.

It is a question of timing. The importers demand is there but they are waiting to see if the dollar would fall further or not. "Once they lose patience they would start buying again."